Those Not of Reknown
by Creole
Summary: One-shot. Daisuke knows the end is near.


Disclaimer: CLAMP, CLAMP, CLAMPity CLAMP. As in, not mine.

Warning: dark, character death

Rating: PG-13

Notes: One-shot drabble; no one loves Daisuke. Why? It would be lovely if perhaps I got a comment...? Sigh.

**Those Not of Reknown**

**By Creole**

**One-Shot: The Beginning and End**

Daisuke had always been ignored. His uncle was the brightest star in their family. His light outshone his own like the sun would a candle. But that had never bothered him; not really. He knew that Seiichiro had a future ahead of him. That he would be involved in matters more important than those of a thousand Daisukes. But he knew that was also a burden; he was grateful that he could live out his life. He didn't need to make the sacrifice that his dear uncle did. He could stand in a wind of his own creation and not think about a thing.

Except for the one thing most important to him. Her.

He had known from the time that he had first seen her in the basement of the Diet Building that she would become the center of his universe. Like his uncle, she was a sun. Her gravity, her patience, her suffering- all would draw him in. She was a beautiful thing, a caged bird. Crippled and weak. But only on the outside.

Her spirit was anguished. But she was so strong. Always awake, but dreaming. She dreamt her life away for the future. She gave up her freedom if only to get a glimpse of the future to come. If only to help somehow. If what she saw could somehow help on that day, her life was worthwhile. So may depended on her; she knew her purpose. Otherwise, with those porcelain hands and chinadoll face, she would surely have broken.

So Daisuke decided that he would keep those tiny hands, her breakable exterior, safe from harm. While she fought all of the demons on the inside, he could protect her on the outside. Keep her safe. Lock the birdcage. If it would keep her from fracturing. Keep her moonpale face perfect. Even if she decayed on the inside.

And he could love her, distantly. He knew that it would never be welcomed. That nothing would ever come of it. She knew- she had a way of seeing through people- how he felt. And she tolerated it. Maybe even had a sort of affection for him. Not his same affection, certainly, but it was a sort of love. That was all he expected; all he needed. He would protect her.

By protecting her, he was part of something bigger than himself. He would help make the future. He would keep the future, her future, alive. He would give his life if he must; he knew that if the other future came to pass, his life would end in any case. It was all he could do, this one small task.

His power wasn't great. It never would equal that of Kamui, or even his uncle. But it would not keep him from his role. He knew his weakness; he knew that in any given fight with the Dragons of Earth, he would be killed. Easily.

But he knew something more than his life was at stake.

Suddenly, the window exploded inward, spraying the room with glass shards. Daisuke managed to protect himself and the chairman, the wind cocooning around them. Kamui most certainly hadn't left for nothing. The evil ones were trying to break another seal. But so close by... He sensed that something was definitely wrong now; he stepped through the broken window frame, telling the scrambling aides to seek shelter.

He straightened, cooly surveying the city. Distantly, smoke rose. The city was in flames. How fragile they all were, so easily destroyed-

He spun when the Dragon spoke. He tensed, demanding to know his name.

The cold voice told him. So he was the other Kamui. Something in him twisted painfully. His heart. So, this was to be the end of his life. He would never see Hinoto again- never see the thick lashes lower over the milky eyes, never again be blessed with a smile-

Kamui spoke once more. He spoke of Daisuke's desire. To protect her- how could he know? No one could see, he had hidden it away so that it was just for her, special for his Princess-

The pain ripped through his shoulder. He felt his sinews snapping, a spray of red as he fell backwards. He could do nothing. His power was as nothing. He didn't mean to die this way. He had meant to die for a cause, to die for her. To protect her- he had thought it was destiny-

The dark man continued speaking, his words garbled to him. The Princess... meant to rescue him? He looked up at Kamui through the haze of pain, barely catching his words. He meant to kill her, to slice through her magics that were made of her spirit.

So then, he would die for her after all. Then this was his end. He thought of his Princess, a bird in a cage. Serenity. He lunged at Kamui with a roar, only to stop in midair. He could move neither forward nor backwards; he was held in an invisible grip. Such power...

Kamui said more words to him, words that were strangely blurred, and his hand descended-

The tendons in his neck, ripped, his spine snapping, his head tearing off- he felt the air on his spinal cord-

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That was his ending. And when the Kamui of light later found him, that was the last that any would ever see of him. He was lost in the rubble after, and mourned by those who knew him. He wasn't mourned so much as those that would come; he hadn't as big a part to play; but they gave him a quiet funeral. For while he wasn't as strong, he had loved as much as any of them.

In the basement of the Diet Building, the Princess wept for him. She wept for a long time, her world breaking around her, before her eyes could produce no more tears. When the pain intensified so much that it became static, her outward mourning stopped. She returned to dreaming. But not the usual dreams; she would never meet him in her dreams. Dreams of sadness and the future. She could only meet him after all dreams had stopped, in the final dream. So quietly, unnoticeably, she changed. She continued her fight inside, but the strength had disappated. But her story is not the one recounted here; it was only his.

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Somewhere in a past time, a servant bowed to a Princess. The happiness in his face made him glow.

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End file.
